13/06/2024
We are pleased to announce 'preserve', the largest survey exhibition to date of British artist Anya Gallaccio. Opening in Autumn 2024, it will span three decades of Gallaccio's radical practice, restaging several iconic works in addition to a new site-specific commission.
Inspired by Kent’s rich agricultural heritage as ‘The Garden of England’, with its abundant orchards, hop farms and farming traditions, the exhibition will premiere an ambitious new commission by Gallaccio, engaging with Kent's famed White Cliffs and chalk landscape. This marks a continuation of Gallaccio's exploration of the complex intersections of labour, production and consumption, as well as her consistent rethinking of the relationship between art and the environment, presenting works that connect with Kent’s natural heritage. Alongside this site-specific installation, the exhibition will see Gallaccio restage several historic works, including her celebrated wall-based gerbera sculpture and a reconstruction of a felled tree spanning one of the first-floor galleries (pictured here).
To complement the exhibition, we have developed an extensive school programme in partnership with Gallaccio, which aims to explore Kent’s countryside, heritage, and history through the lens of the apple and county’s apple orchards. Students from across Kent will visit the national fruit collection at Brogdale to learn about apple growing, planting a new orchard designed by Gallaccio at Lees Court Estate near Faversham, with apple trees donated by Creating Nature's Corridors.
In collaboration with Kent Downs National Landscape, DEFRA and Lees Court Estate, this project underscores Turner Contemporary’s commitment to sustainability and celebrates the relationship between art, ecology, and agriculture in Kent. 'Anya Gallaccio: preserve' is the first in Turner Contemporary’s new Art+Environment programme strand, where curatorial research is generously supported by the John Ellerman Foundation.
'Anya Gallaccio: preserve' is curated by Melissa Blanchflower, Senior Curator, Turner Contemporary.
📷 Anya Gallaccio, The Inner Space Within, 2008, chestnut tree, bolts, stainless steel. Installation view, Camden Art Centre, London © Anya Gallaccio. Courtesy the artist and Thomas Dane Gallery. Photo: Andy Keate.